SPOKANE, Wash. - The Spokane County Regional Animal Service(SCRAPS) said Wednesday they are investigating after finding four cats killed in the area.

Officials said Spokane residents found two front ends of a cat, and two hind ends and they were all different cats.

County vets believe that the cats were intentionally killed. They found in the recovered bodies that some organs and muscle tissue were missing.

Someone found the first cat in their yard in August near S. Francis, west of Ash. At first, investigators did not know what to think, SCRAPS said, until three more bodies were found in the past week.

Two more cats were found in the same area, and a fourth cat was found buried in a backyard at Northwest Boulevard and Euclid.

Three of the cats were orange and white, and the fourth cat was a tabby.

The veterinarian is continuing to study the recovered bodies, and it is an active investigation. SCRAPS said in a release they believed the mutilations were the work of a human and not an animal attack.

Officials are investigating for violations of first degree animal cruelty. That is a class C felony, and may result in up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.